Judge weeps as man jailed over death of ice-fuelled brother

A SUPREME Court judge has wept while sentencing a man for killing his ice-fuelled, violent brother while trying to protect family members.

Shane Ryan Brown, 33, killed his brother Wayne, 38, in June last year by stabbing him the heart while he raged against their parents, his own daughter and partner.

"It's gone in the heart. I'm going to die. It's leaking out of me, I can't breathe," Wayne Brown said as he lay dying on the floor of his parent's Cranbourne home.

Shane Brown considered taking his own life before confessing to police and pleading guilty to the manslaughter of his older brother.

"He had to be stopped. No-one was ever going to get him out of the house. I done what I done," Shane told police.

Justice Michael Croucher broke down in tears several times during Brown's sentence, noting the offending would have once been described as "excessive self-defence or excessive defence of others".

"Shane did not go looking for trouble, rather trouble came to him," Justice Croucher said.

"(Shane) will have a constant reminder of the hurt he caused whenever he sees (other family members') faces."

Shane and Wayne Brown were close siblings who grew up together winning trophies playing football.

But Wayne's drug and alcohol use meant he became increasingly violent as he grew older, became estranged from his own children and regularly assaulted other family members.

Wayne Brown had only been released from jail three weeks before his death for family violence offences and had ice, cannabis, methadone and alcohol in his system when he showed up at his parents house last June.

He directed abuse at his daughter, threatened to smash his partner in the face and called his father a dog, threatening to kill family members before Shane retrieved a knife from his room and stabbed him.

Despite his menacing history of violence, his family have been devastated by his killing.

But they also remain supportive of Shane.

"We hope that Shane is home with us soon," father Colin Brown told the court.

"I worry about his safety."

Brown was sentenced to six years and three months jail with a minimum of three years and three months.

Because Brown has served a seven months sentence since his arrest for breaching a drug rehabilitation order, he will serve at least four years jail before he is eligible for parole.